Huckleberry Finn

In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain created a character who
exemplifies freedom within, and from, American society. Huck lives
on the margins of society because, as the son of the town drunk,
he is pretty much an orphan. He sleeps where he pleases, provided that
nobody chases him off, and he eats when he pleases, provided that he
can find a morsel. No one requires him to attend school or church,
bathe, or dress respectably. It is understandable, if not expected,
that Huck smokes and swears. Years of having to fend for himself
have invested Huck with a solid common sense and a practical competence
that complement Tom’s dreamy idealism and fantastical approach to
reality (Tom creates worlds for himself that are based on those
in stories he has read). But Huck does have two traits in common
with Tom: a zest for adventure and a belief in superstition.

Through Huck, Twain weighs the costs and benefits of
living in a society against those of living independently of society.
For most of the novel, adult society disapproves of Huck, but because
Twain renders Huck such a likable boy, the adults’ disapproval of
Huck generally alienates us from them and not from Huck himself.
After Huck saves the Widow Douglas and gets rich, the scale tips
in the direction of living in society. But Huck, unlike Tom, isn’t
convinced that the exchange of freedom for stability is worth it.
He has little use for the money he has found and is quite devoted
to his rough, independent lifestyle. When the novel ends, Huck,
like Tom, is still a work in progress, and we aren’t sure whether
the Widow Douglas’s attempts to civilize him will succeed (Twain
reserves the conclusion of Huck’s story for his later novel, The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn).